Rehn warns Turkey on closure case against ruling party
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European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn stepped up criticism on Saturday of an attempt by Turkish state prosecutors to close the ruling AKP, saying it could jeopardise Ankara's EU entry talks, in a news conference after EU foreign ministers met with Turkish FM Ali Babacan. Turkish FM said EU reform process should continue separately from political atmosphere.
"This episode has revealed a system error in Turkey's constitutional framework that may need to be addressed through a constitutional amendment," Rehn said in the conference, Reuters reported.
Rehn also said much was at stake for Turkey's EU aspirations when members of the Constitutional Court meet on Monday to consider whether the prosecutor's case, accusing the AKP of subverting the secular order, is admissible. In a normal European democracy such political issues should be debated in parliament and decided through the ballot box, not in the courts, he added.
Asked what impact a decision by the court to ban the AKP and bar top politicians such as President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan from office could have, Rehn said Brussels was obliged to review the negotiating process in case of a serious and persistent breach of EU political and human rights criteria.
"It is important that the Turkish government would now keep its calm and nerves and keep up the momentum of the reform process despite this disturbance," he said, underlining the urgency of changing a key law on freedom of expression.
''EU reform process should continue separately from political atmosphere,'' Babacan said on Saturday after his meeting with Rehn. ''Turkey needs a constitution which is more harmonious with Copenhagen political criteria in legal area,'' he said, adding that the next most important step in reform process would be controversial article 301 of Turkish Penal Code (TCK).